Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Best Fantasy Epics Ever Written
Review: T.H. White's sole-achievement as an author was this stunningly beautiful tale of Arthurian legend. The book is split into four sections, each dealing with a different aspect of King Arthur's world. Whether it be the whimsical, fable-esque passage through Arthur's childhood ('The Sword in the Stone') or the more emotional account of Lancelot's internal struggle ('The Ill-Made Knight), every page from this novel drips with poignancy and a quiet, poetic quality that ranks it among the greatest stories ever told. The book deals with a wide variety of themes and topics, including magic/wizardry, human relationships, politics, heroism, tragedy, among a plethora of other philosophies and musings. The story and its characters are so wonderfully real that you will feel the weight of the world as it rests on their shoulders, and sigh with relief when it is lifted off. I have yet to come across a more dynamic triangle of characters than the complex, fascinating connection between Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot. The author truly mastered the art of creating an absolutely engrossing medieval/fantasy setting, decorating it with some of the deepest, most intriguing characters you'll ever see, and weaving an incredible plotline to propel all of these aspects forth, both into the book's conclusion, and into the reader's heart. For this, he deserves to be ranked among other literary greats such as Tolkien and, dare I say, Shakespeare. The only misgivings the Once And Future King has to offer are a few unbalanced sections throughout the book. T.H. White breaks off into overly descriptive, dry and at-times allegorical passages which disrupt the flow of the story. Though these are interesting, I feel that they could have been left out. Regardless of this small drawback, I would recommend this book with every ounce of enthusiasm I possess. Though I read it several years ago, even today, I would be hard-pressed to find a novel which kept me so addicted and emotionally wrapped up in its pages of deeply moving substance.
Rating: 
Summary: Arthur
Review: I rate this book a 4 because the author explains the novel, The Once and Future King that creates the world of mythological tales and legend, where the greatest ruler of all time, King Arthur who had taken over a peaceful land. I don't want to tell much about what the novel is about because I cannot tell what happens in the story. I liked this novel that White wrote because i like to listen and know about King Arthur and how he became known and famous. Merlin's magic changes him to different kinds of animals, and how he had experienced being one, and tells how it feels. I am the kind of person that likes to hear about action and adventurous stories. For example; how the novel starts and ends, and depends how the narrator tells the story. The Once And Future King was the novel that i was comfortable with, and can concentrate on it, while most of the books i read i have no idea what i read and zones out because the book does not grab my attention and let me slip. I would try to concentrate on the book, but it is hard at times. The novel have words in old french, and i have no idea what it means, and that ticks me off. I read and if it is interesting, I keep on reading and reading until i get to a certain point where i have no idea what it says then i have no clue what that whole sentence is trying to tell me. That's why i rated this book a 4.
Rating:
Summary: THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING
Review: I have only read the first part of the three books in The Once and Future King, and I am already hooked. Before, I was never interested in the tales of King Arthur, and when I found out we would be reading the book (part I) in class I was extremely dissapointed.
The first 'book' of The Once and Future King tells how Arthur was brought up, thus foreshadowing how he will act when he becomes the king of England. T. H. White wrote this novel while serving in the war, and the book shows his opinion on issues such as communism, democracy, and even war itself (in a descrete way). These opinions are expressed when Arthur (also called Wart in his childhood years) is turned into different animals such as a fish, an ant, an owl, a goose, and a badger by his faithful educator, Merlin.
Throughout the first section of this book you will laugh and cry at the same time. Heroes emerge from the most unlikely people in true times of need. You will meet new people that will change your view on life forever, no matter what age you are. Even though I've only read the first part of The Once and Future King, I have already started on the next book which is also superior and impossible to put down. This is ultimately a promising book that people of all ages will adore!
Rating:
Summary: Is this the best introduction to Arthurian Legend?
Review: I don't think The Once and Future King should be considered an introduction unless one experiences time backwards as White's Merlin did. I read a translation of the old French Quest for the Holy Grail before I read this book and I was certainly glad I did. I get the distinct feeling that I should have read some of Thomas Malory's work also. There are more than a few references to Malories Le Mort d'Arthur. They were of passing importance but I still got the impression that one should read Malory before reading White so one can be on the same level, and better understand the latter. Now for the younger reader or the reader who only wants to indulge in fantasy fiction it might be all right to read this book alone. But this is possibly a shallower read than the book deserves. Perhaps one should immerse oneself in a legend or pass it by entirely. Now I feel as if I have read things out of order and don't know if I'll ever get around to Malory. White was applying Arthur's legend to the twentieth century he was not replacing or introducing the previous renderings of the legend. Having provided this caveat I will give this book 4 stars. Had I read Malory it would likely be 5.
Rating:
Summary: One of the great books of the 20th century
Review: The separate novels which make up the whole of T. H. White's Once and Future King, with or without the ending that was lost due to a wartime paper shortage but later published separately as The Book of Merlyn, are without question one of the great contributions to literature in the 20th century. The one-volume O&FK is my personal first on that much-touted list of 100 greatest books of the 20th century, where I am delighted to say it does appear. This book, and To Kill a Mockingbird, and 1984, are the books of my youth that shaped me as an adult. White had many interests and was a versatile, quirky, and brilliant student - Sylvia Townsend Warner's biography of him illuminates this. His own philosophy of life was (as I think Warner notes) similar to Merlyn's: for every uncertainty and unhappiness in life, learning something new is a wonderful cure. White put his various enthusiasms to good use here; O&FK was my "student's guide" to the Middle Ages. What is an orrery? What the heck does "barbara celerant darii ferioque" mean? Look 'em up!...I had to look up so much about so many of the things he was talking about, that I learned to love the European Middle Ages very much, and also his sources (Malory, Walter Map, etc.). I even learned the "real" poems behind the parodies in the narrative (Peacock's "The War Song of Dinas Vawr" comes to mind, and that English folksong about John Peel, "The Horn of the Hunter") and the sources of the quotations which are the epigraphs to the different books - in fact T. H. White introduced me to A. E. Housman! The twist in the story is, of course, that White makes the world of his beloved Morte d'Arthur the real world, and the world of the European Middle Ages and Renaissance the fantasy world...Malory is history, the Plantagenets et al. are fantasy. Merlyn's own recollections are also charmingly old-fashioned, though not intentionally - he lives backwards, so his youth is the era of White's own youth, and he remembers an Oxbridge landscape that is already out-of-date to us. Arthur's youth lies in Merlyn's future, exactly as Merlyn's youth lies in Arthur's future. However, White's sometimes cheerful, sometimes earnest lessons are no less timeless now than when he wrote the book, living on the dark, stormy edge of a world conflict - his home at the time the books were finally compiled into a single volume was Ireland - and we are reminded that the Twentieth Century is without question the century of totalitarianism. Other reviewers here have properly noted White's comparison of the ants' lives to that in a totalitarian state of the right, but I think even White would have been alarmed - I'm pretty sure Merlyn would have been - that some have forgotten that other horrible totalitarianism, i.e. the totalitarianism of the left, which has been excused by many because it means well. Merlyn would certainly say it wouldn't matter if the ants meant well. And in China and Russia, I suspect this book could still be considered dangerous. But the glory of this book is that it is a world unto itself, an enchanting, vivid, colorful, humorous, poignant, and precious world, one that tells us, of course, much about our own. It is a tale from a dream-England that every Anglophile in their heart loves. The story is full of poetry and laughter, high feeling and goofy humor ("You honk like a goose." "I do not, and you snore worse." "How can I snore worse if you don't snore at all?"). I hope it is never lost. Whenever I read the last pages, I turn around to read the first ones again, because I never want it to end. It is T. H. White's gift to a humanity that bemused and troubled him but which, in the end, he must have loved, to have left us all, the whole world over, this wonderful legacy drawn from the very core of his own being. As a post script: Robert Lawton's illustrated Sword in the Stone is a delight to have, if you can find it. And if you can find Christopher Plummer's recording of The Book of Merlyn, it is well worth hearing. Enjoy...
Rating: 
Summary: wart king duh
Review: WART (KING)?? When an individual first picks up "The Once and Future King," by T.H White and look at the cover this person might think adventure and action, well it does have a little of that but it is not all about that it has much more, it is a book about life and destiny and how one person can make a difference, that one person just happens to be a little boy named Wart.
Wart is a boy back in the age when there really where knights in shining armor, and weird looking beasts as big as a house, or bigger who despite what you may think was a step down from everyone else he was always taking orders from others especially his stepfather sir Ector and stepbrother Kay who was quite arrogant and stuck-up sir Ector wasn't that bad but he still gave orders like working in the fields and stuff like that. Wart did get to go on outings such ads hunts and stuff but Kay always treated him like a servant and never like an equal.
On a normal day at the castle, well no day a5t the castle was normal, anyway, Wart and Kay decided to go hawking well Kay being the arrogant no it all sent the hawk to early making it fly off into the forest after about an hour of searching Kay left and went back to the castle. Leaving Wart to look by himself this is the point in the story when Merlyn comes into play; Merlyn is a tall skinny old man with a long gray beard who is very wise you see while wart was searching for the hawk he heard a strange clanking noise that didn't sound like it should come from the forest so he fallowed it and found Merlyn whom he took back to the castle and showed sir Ector who tested Merlyn, Merlyn became his teacher. From that point on Warts life would never be the same.
This book is sure to make you think about anything and it will keep you turning the pages and wanting more, just don't get obsessed.
Rating:
Summary: The Once and Future King
Review: The Once and Future King is and imaginative fantasy in which many of today's fairy tales are based on. You can find Whites characters in many story books for children and even in Disney films. This novel is full of magic, mystery, war, and romance. A book with this much variety is sure to strike up any reader's interest. In the story, Arthur struggles to meet his unexpected destiny. In The Sword and the Stone (the first section of the book) Wart, the main character is a young and adventurous boy who gets lost in the forest when him and a friend go hawking and then lose track of the bird. He finds Merlyn in a tiny cottage way out in the forest all by its self once Wart mentions he is in need of a tutor Merlyn says he is more than happy to tutor Wart. Before you know it he's being taught life changing lessons by none other than the great wizard Merlyn, himself. By being taught by Merlyn, Wart learns some spectacular things and is able to observe the world through many different points of view. Throughout the book Wart grows a newfound respect for him, others, and life which makes it easier to tolerate his best friend Kay who is a self centered jealous little brat. Kay is at his worst towards the end of the story. This novel is not only intriguing but will keep the reader interested for sometime. With all the suspense and mystery it's hard to even put this classic down. Although it seems that during The Sword and The Stone the plot becomes blurry, as if things are happening one after another with no key destination. Fortunately it all sums up in the end. If the author had just given some more clarification his in depth details, and colorful characters could really have came to life. All in all T.H. Whites work is nothing less than remarkable.
Rating: 
Summary: Starts strong, then gets philosophical and serious
Review: A selection from Jill's library, she recommended White's magnum opus to me as a book that she loved from her youth, but wasn't quite sure how well it help up today. After reading it, I can see how it could easily capture the heart of the young. It is like Tolkien's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings--it opens on a light, fanciful note, then moves into a deepening gloom, filled with despair and humor, epic quests and little character studies, ending on both a sad and hopeful note. The Once and Future King is, of course, Arthur, about whom Sir Mallory made his fame, and made Arthur famous, in L'Morte D'Arthur. White expects his reader to have read Mallory, making reference to it more than once. White is not merely retelling the story of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (although one can pick up the salient points by reading The Once and Future King); he is using the legend to explore the idea of honor, might, strength, and the feudal system. Most people are familiar with the opening book of The Once and Future King, "The Sword and the Stone," from the obligatory butchery done to it by Disney. Like Carlos Collodi's Pinocchio and Felix Salten's Bambi, the flesh of White's story--the part that illuminates and fills out the plot--was picked clean from the bones of the structure. You recognize the major points in Disney, but there is always something that gets left out. Disney's version of "The Sword and the Stone" leaves out the rough parts, showing only the fun and fanciful bits (Kay remains, but he is a one-sided shadow of his book self). Yes, it contains humor, but Arthur's upbringing by Merlin also has its dangerous aspects as does Sir Ector's treatment of his young ward. The following three books are as different from "The Sword in the Stone" as Disney's version of it differs from White's. The second book, "The Queen of Air and Darkness," basically sets up the Orkney clan, a hot-headed Scots bunch that Arthur is related to (his father raped their mother's sister). While interesting, it lacks the "story arc" of the first book, and is mainly background for readers to understand why they act like they do in the third and fourth books. The third book describes how Arthur created the Round Table, and what it's purpose was (to redirect the "might" of the ruling class inward, rather than outward at the people). He achieves his wish too well, creating a competition that he had hoped to avoid (the idea of the Round Table is that all who sit there are equals--no one sits at, or by, the head). Guinevere and Lancelot show up here as well, and the seeds are placed for their betrayal of Arthur (who herein is not that surprised or bothered by their adulterous affair--instead, it is envy of Lancelot by one of the Orkney clan and hatred of Arthur by his half-son Mordred that brings about their downfall). It is this downfall that the last book covers. Some believe that Tolkien never intended for the Lord of the Rings to be read as an analogy of anything, contradicting the many scholarly essays on how Sauron represents Hitler, etc. White, on the other hand, is definitely saying something here about England, its imperialistic downfall, and the state of the world. Some of it is obvious, as in the discussion of Force Majeure and the concepts of "might" and "right." Other parts require a PhD dissertation. I enjoyed The Once and Future King, but not as much if I had read it as a teenager, or if I had spent more time at it as a college student.
Rating:
Summary: Great imagination, shaky philosophy
Review: I enjoyed the book a lot but I wouldn't give it the superlative review that others on this site have given. What I like best about it is its sense of fantasy and fun. As a moral play, as a lesson against military force, it becomes ponderous, depressing, and ultimately pointless. Like Tolstoy in War And Peace, T.H. White is a much better storyteller than he is a philosopher. I didn't appreciate the monologue or lecture at the end of the book, whether in White or Tolstoy. We start out with a story so light and imaginative and fun that it could be called a children's story. And as that, it's excellent. Merlin transforms young King Arthur into various animals and he communicates with his fellow animals, all of which illustrate traits of humans. For example, as an ant the child is exposed to mindless militarism. The story of the love triangle between Arthur, Guenever, and Lancelot is puzzling, maybe even infuriating. Arthur is not emotionally upset about his wife's betrayal. On the contrary, it is a love fest between the three of them (not physically). What is going on? In T.H. White's fantasy world there are no deep dark emotions of jealousy and possessiveness. That's nice, I guess, for him. But the only way I can understand a world without jealousy and possessiveness is as a world without feeling. If you don't give a damn, you don't give a damn. It all feeds into the author's philosophy that we should all subscribe to John Lennon's "Imagine" song and give up all our possessions. Yeah, okay. Just let me keep this here ashtray, and, umm, I think I'll need my calculator. One of the most frustrating things about this book is Arthur's loss of strength and sense at the end. He becomes so weak that he won't even protect his wife from "the law". Oh well, if they want to burn her at the stake, well, I donno, I guess .... It is no fun to read about a weak, senseless sap. Was Arthur not in a position to make the laws more humane? Are we to follow laws that lead to cruelty? I don't enjoy wallowing in someone else's misery, particularly when that someone else has the strength and brains of a waterlogged paper towel. So I believe that the strength of this book is its imagination, its light and its fun, and there is a lot of it. The depressing parts, evidently judged essential to get a point across, or else God knows why they are there, just fall flat. In fact, the book itself just falls flat. The ending is unsatisfactory. You may have a tendency to decide that the book is famous and therefore must be great, and hell, we're not entitled to another happy ending all the time, but I have to disagree that this ending is good. No, I think it is pretty lame. White's argument for us at the end is that the Have Nots will always make war because they want what the Haves have. I disagree. The Have Nots of this world don't have the wherewithal to make war. War is usually Haves trying to get at what other Haves have, or Haves trying to steal whatever the Have Nots happen to have. Can you just picture Guatemala attacking the U.S.?
Rating:
Summary: Trial for a Kingdom
Review: Trial for a Kingdom
Enthralling and inspiring, The Once and Future King, written by T.H. White, depicts the adultery, scandal, and power of the Arthurian time. With great detail, it shows light versus dark, good against bad, and loyalty against disloyalty. This is a story of Arthur from childhood to Avilon. Four books, The Sword in the Stone about Arthur's childhood, The Queen of Air and Darkness, The Ill Made Knight about Lancelot, and The Candle in the Wind, are put into one to make an exciting story.
When a child, Arthur, or Wart as he was called when he was young, was tutored by Merlin by being changed into different animals. Through this, Merlin taught Wart about society and war. By being changed into an ant, Wart learned the senselessness of war. After being changed into a goose, Wart learned that peace can be accomplished in society.
I think that this book is geared towards high school and above. There are some inappropriate scenes in this book. Also, fans of knights should read this book, because there are plenty of knights.
|
